All About Pocket Knives

Hows about a few fixed blades!

My favorite is the one with the church key as the guard/hilt. Very ingenuitive!

..... Joe

Nice knives, Joe!

Do you think that Colonial was made like that?

God almighty Joe... Our old # H-1 Hunter with bottle opener incorporated into the guard!! The next three I don't know where to start!! I can tell you this...that second brown handle one was discontinued years before I started working in the shipping room. The only reason I remember it is because in the shipping room, we had many of these same fixed blade knives with black handles and most of them had blades that had been sharpened with files at every shipping bench so many times, the blades were
no more than a half inch wide! Not half inch thick, but so filed down they were like cutting boxes with a pencil!! Boy that knife brings me back a LOOOOONG way!!

I think at this point, it is safe to say, in my proffesional opinion, Mr. Joe (dirt) Keating has the most extensive collection of Colonial knives I've ever seen!!!
Your the man Joe!!
My opinion doesn't include Joe's cutler ability's, which I've only gotten a taste of, but you guys are going to be BLOWN AWAY when you see what Joe's been working on for a while with the basket of parts I sent him months ago!! This man has incredible ability's and for now, I'll leave it at that!!
Nice job Joe!! Bobby.....

Hello 1967 redrider, what do you mean "do you think Colonial was made like that"??
Welcome aboard first of all and second, my name is Bobby Paolantonio, third generation owner and cutler of my family business, Colonial Knife Company.
I would be personally happy to answer any questions you may have about my family's business, Colonial Knife. Pleased to meet you!
Bobby P. CKCo.. "Cutler 4-Ever"..

I can toss this pic in, even though I no longer have this knife....

1. A Shrade USA PH2. 2. A US made Cold Steel w/ Carbon 5 steel.

Hey quick steel...very nice drop point Shrade hunter. Full tang and hollow ground; very hard to beat! It must have come with a handsome leather sheath..Nice toy!!
And now we have a rubber handled Tanto, and no knife collector would be caught dead without one!! Thanks for the show sir!!
Bobby P. CKCo...."Cutler 4-Ever"

Thank you Bonfire. I'm particularly glad to have the CS with Carbon 5 steel since now CS goes with other steels. I think, but am not sure, Carbon 5 was the same steel used by Camillus. In any event the edge is superb.

Darn. I got into the wrong fixed blade thread. Apologies to all. QS

Hey quick steel, I don't know either way. I honestly ever worked with or know anything about Carbon 5. At Colonial, the highest quality of steel that we ever used was G-2...

I am a great source for uncertainties. I seem to recall Spyderco used G2, at least in its early years.

Very good sir, your absolutely right!! The first, outstaning products we recieved in the form of a knife from over seas were the "Spyderco's"..!! Japan!! and intoduced with G-2...
We have to bring this topic to the Colonial Collectors forum because I have more of a story to tell...

That is very interesting. And that Colonial used G2 is even more interesting to me than its use by Spyderco.

A few I missed...

The Cub Hunter on the original card is a recent acquisition from "knife nut."
(Thanks Mark! )
It looks to be the same as the one Scott has posted - no doubt they have some age to them.
The little yellow handle Cub is MUCH NEWER - probably '70s to early '80s.


A question for Bobby:

The two fixed blades with the "StagHead" handle are; in the package - Colonial (1970's), and Imperial.
The Colonial is stamped on the mark side while the Imperial is stamped on the pile side. These 2 knives
are the exact same with the handles coming from the same mold.

My question... Imperial made these first - back in the '50s. Who, what when where, did Colonial acquire this
fixed blade from Imperial?
I know Imperial was your cousin... was this sold, gifted, stolen, shared, lost in a poker game? How did ya (Colonial)
get it from them?
I have also seen the same thing with other pattern knives between the two companies.

Also, who was that "Cap'n Al" on the floating fish knife? Was he a real person? A family member?
Was he the guy who took the folks out to "Sleep With The Fishies." ???????

........ Joe

O.K. Joe....boy you guys really get my spider web brain thinking! But that's good!!
I'll take the text questions first, then corrispond to the pics...Your right about the early Cub Hunter and the plastic handle arrived in the late 60's. That bone handled earlyier model, probably early 40's with the originall card in tackJoe.......is VERY rare and VERY valuable...you know as well as I..
The second batch of Stag head hunters is interesting. This was our # H-1 Hunter and back then our family's inculing Imperial ( the Mirando's and the fIzzono's) and my grandfather and his brothers DID share very similar handle materials, design and they probably bought the sheaths from the same local company. The Imperial hunter is older and made from leather where as the Colonial had a Viynle sheath. As I can see the Imperial hunter on the right has a lighter tone of stain and this is because we bought the same raw handles from the same molder's back then and we would apply our own stain, as Imperial did! (forgive my Vynle spelling)!!
I'm sure you understand Joe and friends back in the early days when two very large knife manufacturing plants located 3 miles from each other, especially cousins, they shared many things back the, like Joe says..
Finally, our # 77 cork floating knife with Capn' Al on the card was probably a family joke, since there were about seven Al's at Colonial!!
One more item I'd like to touch on was our old hatchet!! These were quite sturdy, with a full tang and pretty Nice steel back then, 1095 I think with a high polish!
One more detail...Colonial ALWAYS stamped the tangs on the front...always..
Thanks for the walk down memory lane Joe, now I'm going for a Martini!!
Did I miss anything??? remind me later..Bobby P. "Cutler 4-Ever"

Thank you Bobby! Great info.

Here's just a little correction for the H1 Hunter for those who might have missed it;
the knife at the very top of the page is a F5BO and the "Staghead" is the H1 hunter.
(the knife with the church key guard is the F5BO = Fixed blade 5" blade with Bottle Opener)
Hope that Martini is easing your sore brain man.

Your sooo right about the hatchet, Bobby!! If ya look closely you can see where someone has
hammered with the end opposite of the ground edge. You wont find that many other "boys
knives" that would hold up to that!!!!!

You just wait til tomorrow my friend! Somthin is gettin close to RI as we speak!!

...... Joe

Received this fix blade in the mail today.It is made by Schrade but has no tang stamp.I was wondering if the had a production or tang stamp number.
Schrade made up special ones with etching.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1977-Schrade-Sa ... 2c68517771
I also posted under my latest schrade

Thanks for the correction Joe! The # still looks foreign to me but I would be the last man to question you! You've got more dam old Colonials than I do!!!

Greetings shearer! Thanks for showing that nice fixed blade beauty, especially the basket weave sheath!
Made by Shrade, with no tang stamp!!?? Mmmmmm. Unless you have absolute proof, a knife of this apparent quality would have some kind of indication of where it came from and who made it. It's very possible it was a special private label order but still, they would have gone out of thier way to put a company logo or something else to specify it'a validity.
Please don't feel offended my friend but I'm sure the boys here might agree with me.....
It is suspect, at the very least..
Joe, Scott, Overt...what do you think gents!!!??

Bonfire bob here is the listing when I purchased the knife.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/221153795040 ... 126wt_1045
Also I have posted in my latest schrade
http://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/kni ... &start=615
Before I purchased the knife I had seen several listing from seller in different countys stating the same thing.

Very good shearer!! The add is very clear about it being a Shrade!
When you show a knife my friend, any and ALL possible information you can give is extremely valuable.
Like the add said, these were very special knives, given to the employe's ONLY and they called them "Lunch box Knives"..!! These knives were never sold to the public and this is probably why they never stamped it or gave it a catalogue #..
Please don't be offended at all my friend and I appologise for my doubting you!
The addition information would have removed all doubt right from the begining!!
I think you got a great deal on a rare and valuable knife!! Good for you..
Your friend and previous doubting Thomas, Bobby P. CKCo...

Hello
Here is my Colonial Reproduction US Navy Mk.I Knife of WWII Fame. I got this knife last year and I'm very happy with it. I had no problem getting this knife sharp. As a US Navy Veteran and having a WWII USN Veteran Dad (who actually was issued a sheath knife as USN Aircrew in the War) I just had to have this knife!

I'd love to find an original USN Mk.I Knife (Colonial and/or any other maker) one of these days, but until then I have this one. I'm glad that this is being made today, so I can actually use it and not feel bad for scratching it up, etc.
Thanks
Mark

Bonfire bob wrote:Hello 1967 redrider, what do you mean "do you think Colonial was made like that"??
Welcome aboard first of all and second, my name is Bobby Paolantonio, third generation owner and cutler of my family business, Colonial Knife Company.
I would be personally happy to answer any questions you may have about my family's business, Colonial Knife. Pleased to meet you!
Bobby P. CKCo.. "Cutler 4-Ever"..

Bobby, nice to meet you too and sorry I didn't see your post earlier. Never seen a fixed blade with a church key guard, perfect design for us "beverage" consumers! I have some Colonial knives, including a knife/axe combo I think is made by Colonial and some shells. I'm relatively new to the knife collecting scene, love seeing and learning about knives.

-John Knippenberg

Greetings Mark! When I first opened this and took a look at the UDT Navy Knife in that condition, I almost DIED!! An original in that condition would probably be worth hundreds!!
I agree about the new immatations; at least the memories come back for you and you can use it!! Good job Mark; we made TONS of these for combat use....

Hello again redrider (John)! The secret to this site is to click on that box on the bottom that says notify me to any replys! That's probably why every day I open my mail and there's six or seven responses!! I can't help it; I have to read them all.
Nice to have you and keep in touch...when are you guys going to buy my book about Colonial???
Bobby P. CKCo.."Cutler 4 Ever"....

Bobby,

Do you have a store set up or where could I find such book? Thanks!

-John

Hello John, you've come to the right place. Send me an e-mail at : [email protected]
and I will reply and personally send you my book. I will give you the details when you mail me! That goes for the rest of you interested gents or gals!!

FYI My book "press release" will be in this month 's issues of "Knife World Magazine", the news letter of the "NCCA", which is The Northeast Cutlery Collector's Association", and
"Tactical Knives Magazine".....Respectively....Bobby Paolantonio, Colonial Knife Company, third generation owner and cutler.. R.A.P. Cutler, and Heritage Cutler's Inc....